A UConn student looks at student art exhibitions in the Wilbur Cross second floor. This semesterly event provides UConn students the opportunity to showcase their artistic talent in a professional juried exhibition. (Zhelun Lang/The Daily Campus)

This past Monday at 4 p.m., as the snow spattered wind on a gray afternoon made campus feel sparse of students, most of them could be found in the Wilbur Cross Building on the second floor, outside and in the Center for Career Development office. The reason is the opening night of the Spring 2017 Student Art Exhibition.

The show runs once a semester and stays up in the building throughout the semester so students can view it any time the building is open. However, parts of the exhibit are put up in the office space of the building, allowing students and visitors to view all the pieces that were accepted for this semester’s show when the office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m..

“The shows seem to get better and better each semester,” Amanda Carchedi, the marketing communication manager for the Student Art Exhibition, said. “This semester we received over 200 submissions, but only 55 were chosen as our space is limited, but we got some really great pieces this time.”

The pieces are submitted and reviewed digitally by a small jury that follows a rubric of criteria. After being selected, the students then have a small period of time to get the actual works to the exhibit space. “We have some much bigger pieces this year too, that giant canvas painting that was done by an English major had to be brought up on a truck. We even have a sculpture from a student at the Stamford campus,” Carchedi said.

The exhibition showcases works of art from different students on campus, and just about any media you can think of. There were works with stamps, soft pencil, photography, mixed media, all kinds of paints, digital media and sculpture. But these works were not just from the talented art students here at UConn; a large number were from students outside the arts. For example, there were pieces by English, pharmacy, biophysics, economics and family studies majors all along side the fine arts majors.

“It is really interesting seeing a wide range of disciplines coming together to show their art. It is cool to see what kind of art students from non-art majors create,” eighth-semester photography major, Michael Amato, who was attending the show, said. “We art students are in our own little bubble and we don’t get to see the art people create outside of our classmates and peers. It (the exhibit) is a nice reminder of the fact that you don’t have to be an art student to be an artist.”

Amato had two works of long exposure photography included in the gallery. They were from a project he worked on thanks to a Summer Undergraduate Research Fund or “SURF” grant to explore the small world of performance artists who work with fire out on the west coast and Hawaii. His goal was to be immersed in everything these performers live and breathe to bring it back and expose the art form to other performers and artists on campus and the east coast. If you would like to know more about Amato, his work, or his journey, more information can be found at michaelamatophoto.com.

If you would like to see your art featured next semester, you can contact Amanda Carchedi and her staff by emailing career@uconn.edu and telling them you are interested. Students are also encouraged to stop by room 202 in the Wilbur Cross Building if they have any questions about the show. The committee accepts art in November for the spring show, and April for the fall show. If a student’s piece is accepted, they will have the break period to retrieve it in time for the show.